Today, November 16, 2012, Alta opens for its 75th season. However, I am chained to a cubicle working on a wicked deadline and pouting. I want nothing more than to be at the end of the Little Cottonwood Canyon smearing turns like Suz Graham. Instead I will try to compensate by doing as the skiers at Alta are likely going to do by crushing a few 75th Anniversary Ales. I reckon a slight Alta ale-induced buzz might ease the pain of missing opening day…but probably not.

Brewed in collaboration with Utah’s first microbrewer Wasatch Beers, 75th Anniversary Ale is billed as a dry-hopped pale ale and pours a beautiful copper color with a medium-bodied head. While there is a decent hoppiness to the beer, it relies more on malts. Wonderful flavors of caramel and toffee balance with a smooth breadiness. An immensely sessionable beverage, it’s not heavy. The alcohol content clocks in at a modest 4 percent (due in part, I imagine, to some of Utah’s liquor laws controlling draft beer). But the drinkability is part of the beer’s beauty. It’s equal parts hydration and libation, the perfect wind-down to a day of pow laps on High T and Supreme. It’s yet another excuse to venture to Alta. Not that anyone needed one.

Don’t miss the official 75th anniversary celebration on January 15. I’ll be there drinking an abundance of these ales. Cheers Alta. Here’s to another 75 years.